The series starts off with an interesting premise, namely a TV gameshow discussing all the increasing amounts of signs that vampires walk among us. Although Vampires are hardly an original premise... actually, they're one of the least original and overused premises in modern media, but I digress... introducing their existence to the unsuspecting public via the media is certainly a new one. On paper, this reads like a fantastic deconstruction of the vampire genre, but horribly executed and turns into a rather large clusterfuck. Amidst the TV show, Mina Tepes, a small blonde loli girl who looks distinctly similar to Evangeline A.K. McDowell, announces the existence of Vampires, and declares herself to be their ruler.
The above becomes largely forgettable, though, as something of an Episode 0 sort of thing, and the following episode picks up with the actual plot, introducing our protagonist Akira. I call him our protagonist in the very lightest sense of the word, since from the very beginning it was painfully obvious that the staff behind the show care about one character, and one character only, and that is Mina. Despite being our supposed protagonist, Akira shows next to no personality in the series, being a bland plot vehicle instead. As it turns out, he and Mina go quite a way back, but Akira has amnesia. Apparently, he is a member of the Earth Clan of Werewolves, and is bound to protect Mina.
Yes, you read that right. This features both Vampires and Werewolves. Where have I heard that one before?
What follows is a rather poorly-paced plot that takes several episodes to truly commence, and when it does, falls flat on its face. Whilst i'd rather not spoil too much, Mina takes a rather drastic choice within the series when the shit hits the fan, and starts to take a turn for the worst as a character. What doesn't help is that said decision seriously clashes with how she is portrayed in the previous episode, making her out to be a rather inconsistent character. At the same time, the plot that ensues is very generic, bland, and completely fails to ignite any sense of interest, with the exception being towards the end when the show begins to pick up.
All of this, however, is only so much detraction, and could still make for a passable show if it wasn't for my one and only massive complaint about this show: The directing. Put simply, Akiyuki Shinbo needs a good, hard kick in the 'nads for the horrible, horrible job he has done directing this show. For a start, the art style is extremely bland, and the colouring feels very undersaturated, making a very weak atmosphere for the series. But more importantly, the animation is horrific. Not since Evangelion have I seen such blatant corner-cutting, and at the very least Evangelion put it to good artistic use. Here, they repeat animation wholesale, and constantly use longshots, along with some very blatant and annoying censors. And just to put the cherry on the top, when the animation hits its low, can you guess what they did? They mixed in live action shots to save animation, if you believe they would honestly sink so low. But worst of all, the eye closeups. Oh dear lord the eye closeups. There's an extreme close up of an eyeball around every few seconds, or at least once every two minutes. In one episode, I actually counted how many, and guess what? 54. In a single episode. I am not making this up.
In essence, this show is garbage. It's hard to find more than a handful of redeeming features to it, aside from the fact that the manga might be something passable.
Final Words: Don't waste your time on it.
Animation/Graphics: 1/10
Story/Plot: 4/10
Music/Background: 7/10
Voice Acting: N/A
Overall: 3/10
For Fans Of: Bakemonogatari, Trinity Blood
